. >>> and mini moon, the guinness book of world records reveals >>> and mini moon, the guinness book of world records reveals the world's smallest cow. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with finally nearing the end. after five long months, crews in the gulf of mexico have taken a major step toward permanently plugging up the blownout well behind the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. for more on that, we go to kristin dahlgren, live in louisiana with more. good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. day 150 and that relief well that they started drilling shortly after this all started has finally intersected with the mccondo well some 2 1/2 miles below the floor of the gulf. admiral thad allen said that the two wells were connected and that the next step was to pump mud and cement down into that well to permanently seal it off. obviously, great news for people in this area, but really just one step in their recovery. oil continues to wash ashore. and this week, thousands of dead fish. take a look at these